A man had to have his hand amputated after getting a 'tiny scratch' while doing a bit of housework.
Phil Barradell, 40, was carrying out some general household chores on 11 April, when he accidentally brushed his hand on a nail and got a small scratch.
But in the following days the aspiring DJ saw his hand swell, turn purple and begin to 'smell like something had died'; so, he went to A&E to have it checked out.
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He was admitted to hospital where medics tried to treat his hand, but just one week later he was given the devastating news that they had to cut it off or he'd die, as he had contracted the rare and potentially fatal flesh-eating disease, necroticising facisciitis.
Phil, from Loughborough, Leicestershire, said: "It was really shocking.
"I didn't really have time to process it all when I was on painkillers, but I couldn't believe a small scratch could lead to losing my hand within the week.
"It's bizarre, and I still don't understand it, but it's crazy to think this could happen to anyone.
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"I thought maybe it was a complication from my Type 1 diabetes, but it had nothing to do with that - it was just a ridiculously unlucky cut.
"It looked completely fine when I first scratched myself, but then three days later I was looking at my hand and thought 'this doesn't look right'.
"My hand was completely swollen and stiff. It started to smell a bit like something had died, and it turned this scary dark purple colour.
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"I was in the hospital for almost a week and each time a doctor came to visit me, they had an increasingly more serious face. Finally, they just came in and told me they had to cut it off, or I would die.
"I could have died from a tiny scratch, it's just unbelievable."
Phil, who worked as a chef before the injury, says he had no idea that when he went to Leicester Royal Infirmary he would be leaving with one hand; especially because the cut was so small and 'didn't hurt at all'.
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Phil said: "That whole week was a massive blur, it just felt like one long dream. I was on so many painkillers.
"I also have peripheral neuropathy, so I have little feeling in my arms but I could see my hand and liquids were pouring out of it. I was stupidly worried. I was certain liquids aren't meant to come out of there.
"When they told me what I actually had, it sounded so scary. It eats your flesh from the inside, so it's not exactly pleasant. And turns out one in four people die from it, so it's pretty hardcore."
Phil says he had no idea how serious the injury was or that he would lose his hand and was shocked when surgeons told him amputation was the only option.
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Speaking about being told the news, Phil said: "It was a sleepless night, but I wasn't really thinking about the amputation. I couldn't really think about anything, I'd been on painkillers and anaesthetics for five days straight.
"But I wasn't overly concerned with losing the hand. It did feel funny to think that later that day I'd be missing a body part I've always had.
"Considering the situation, I was made to feel very comfortable in the ward the whole time I was there, and even just before the amputation. I didn't envy what the surgeons had to do at all.
"Then the closer we got to the surgery, I started to realise 'this is going to change everything'. Not necessarily in a totally negative way, but my life was going to change."
Amazingly, Phil has managed to stay positive throughout the whole ordeal and is now hoping to raise funds for a £10,500 prosthetic hand from OpenBionics, which he says will allow him to live life to the fullest.
"OpenBionics make some really cool stuff," he said. "They've got this Hero Arm project and it's not a prosthetic that looks like those silly mannequin arms, it looks like something out of Iron Man.
"Realistically, I'd like to think that I could have this not affect my life too much. I still want to do all the things I've always done and want to do. I'd like to go back into the kitchen in the day and spin my records by night.
"It's all still an alien process, as it's all new to me. I've never been through something like this before, and every day feels like a surprise.
"I've had to relearn how to do everything and I never realised how many things I did with both my hands, but thankfully they chopped off my left hand not my right."
You can donate to Phil's fundraiser here.
Topics: uk news